Klance vs The Broadsword
by starspangledfeels
Summary: Keith discovers that Lance's bayard has changed forms and offers to give him a few tips. Blushing ensues. (Simple three or two shot), two oblivious nerds being two oblivious nerds.)
1. The Broadsword

"Your bayard changed to a sword?" Keith's eyebrows arched in surprise.

"Heh, yeah. It just kind of… happened?" Lance's explanation was weak at best.

"Do you know how to use it?"

" _Do I_ \- of _course_ I know how to use it!"

"I didn't mean it personally, Lance." Keith said placatively. "It's okay if you aren't great with a sword yet, you haven't been working with one for very long. You're an amazing sharpshooter, but that came with practice. I'm sure that if the bayard summoned a blade for you then you're more than capable of wielding it."

"Oh. Um, okay, then. Thanks, Keith." Lance was baffled. Did _Keith_ really just compliment him? And basically say he believed in him?

"It's just the truth, Lance." Keith shrugged. "Now, do you want me to give you some pointers?"

Lance, now a little uncomfortable because the situation was not familiar in the slightest, resorted to his usual get-out-of-awkward-settings-mode. "Ha- some _point_ ers- because it's a sword-"

Keith ignored Lance's babbling and took his knife out of his belt. The blade activated, providing Keith with a weapon that he could parry a sword with.

Lance regarded him for a moment before steeling his nerves and pulling out the red bayard. It morphed into the Altean Broadsword again and the weight was somehow comfortable, natural. He gripped the handle anxiously and raised his weapon to meet Keith's.

"The thing about swords is that they're an extension of your will. It's not like a gun- fighting like this is up close and personal. The sword will follow the arc of your arm and all the force comes from your own body." As Keith spoke, he stepped closer until they were at a good position to spar. "It's a powerful tool, but only if you use it correctly."

Lance tried to focus on the words that Keith was saying, but he found himself too focused on how close they were, how that black suit clung to his body in a way that the paladin suits never had, how… _nice_ it actually was to see him again. Hopefully his subconscious absorbed some of this information because at this rate the only thing Lance had learned was that Keith had somehow gotten even more muscley. How was it legal for someone to look so good in a skintight suit?

He parried on autopilot when Keith swung at his face. He may have also yelped.

"Focus, Lance." Keith scolded. "Learning how to use this sword is a matter of life or death."

Lance kept swinging the sword, but the fighting quickly got more intense. It became difficult to be everywhere that Keith was, to move in response, to just flat out avoid getting his ass kicked. Keith was just _so damn fast_. Lance didn't think he'd ever be able to fight like him.

"C'mon, Lance." Keith narrowed his eyes and ramped up his attacks again. "Focus."

Lance closed his eyes and parried a thrust, trying to hone in on what he was doing and get his head in the game.

With another yelp he went flying as Keith swiped his legs out from under him. He hit the ground hard.

"Oww." Lance groaned, grabbing the bayard from where it had slipped from his grasp. "What was that for?"

"You aren't trying hard enough."

" _I_ 'm not _trying hard enough_?!"

"Yes," Keith suddenly growled, stalking forward. Lance's eyes widened.

Keith swung at Lance and the sharpshooter scrambled to intercept the blow. "You have to work harder, be _quicker_ , the longer the fight drags on the more tired you'll get while wielding a broadsword."

Lance gritted his teeth but couldn't think of a retort; Keith was right. He started to press forward, pushing on as much as he defended.

But only a moment later Keith dealt a blow so hard that his bayard was wrenched from his grasp. Lance cursed and lunged for it, sweeping upwards as he did so as to counter the blade Keith swung at his heart. The resounding clang echoed through the training deck.

Lance huffed, breathing hard. Keith didn't even break a sweat. Lance narrowed his eyes. Why did Keith just _have_ to be better than him at _everything_? He let out an indignant scoff and swung as hard as he could towards Keith, but Keith just jumped backwards to throw off Lance's balance.

Keith lunged forward to rap him in the side with the flat edge of his blade. "You're leaving your defenses up, remember to use your shield." Lance gritted his teeth.

He grudgingly summoned the shield and used it to block Keith's heavy hits, letting the holographic energy absorb the crushing impacts while he tried to follow kis movements.

But Keith danced around him and rapped his back before Lance could turn around again. "Stop fixating on your defense- you have to go on the offensive if you want to win!"

Lance just angrily jabbed his sword in Keith's direction. He fumed, humiliation burning in his temples. Why did Keith just get to waltz back here to the castle and show off? Lance'd show _him_.

Keith eased up for just a moment and Lance took the opportunity. He pressed forwards, bringing his blade down in an arc over his head and slamming it down into Keith's. He swung again with all his might, sending Keith's blade flying. All of the sudden Lance was stretched out in a lunge, the edge of his blade a hair's breadth from Keith's neck. He panted, eyes narrowed, glaring at the boy in front of him.

It was over.

Keith's breathing was ragged now. His chest heaved but he looked… proud… if only for a moment. Lance just stared at him; silence fell over the pair. Their eyes locked and neither did anything but breathe heavily.

Lance couldn't help but wonder if Keith felt the same way he did in this moment. He wondered if Keith felt the charged air and electricity that crackled between them. He wondered if Keith wanted to be closer, like he did.

Lance was afraid to speak and ruin whatever this energy was that was between them. Standing so close to him, staring so deep into Keith's eyes, Lance suddenly knew just how much he had missed him.

Keith wondered if Lance knew how lonely the days had been without his awful jokes and charged personality. Did he know how much Keith had just wanted to go back home? To be with his friends again? To be with _Lance_ again?

"Lance-"

"Keith-"

They both stopped talking abruptly. They both hesitated to continue. They both floundered for words and came up blank. Lance fumbled around in his brain, wondering where all his anger had gone, and where all this fondness had come from.

"You- You're not bad with the sword." Keith said, finally looking away. He cleared his throat. Adversely, Lance couldn't tear his gaze away.

"Yeah…" Lance murmured absently. Neither one of them moved until, slowly, Lance lowered his bayard. Both boys straightened automatically.

Keith opened his mouth to speak but snapped it shut for some un-apparent reason. He nodded once at Lance before turning around on his heel and walking away, out of the training center. Even after the door slid shut Lance stared after him and a flush rose to his cheeks. He clapped his hands over his skin to hide the red tint and he yelped in pain and irritation as he accidentally slapped his own face and dropped the bayard _again_. The noise it made when it hit the ground startled him even further.

 _Stop blushing_. He thought furiously. _Why am I blushing anyways? It- it must've just been the exercise_. _Yeah, that was it._

He scooped up his bayard and slunk out of the training deck, intent on forgetting that any of this happened. Keith did not just compliment him or help him out. Lance did not swoon over Keith, he did not blush just thinking about it, and he most certainly did not like Keith in any way other than as a friend. He shuddered- he should probably shower to cool off the blood rising to his cheeks.

His flushed face was just due to the exercise. Nothing more.

 _Just. The exercise_. _Right. Yup_.

Lance groaned and covered his face with his hands.

Nope, it was definitely Keith.

Keith leaned back against the door to his room(it had stayed his even after all this time), face red and heart pounding. It was just the exercise, right? No homo-?

Keith groaned and thunked his head back against the door. Nope. Full homo. Definitely.


	2. Pidge's Schemes

**I continued to follow the slightly out-of-control tone and amped it up a bit for fun. Also lots of Pidge because I love her. Also a tiny bit of Langst because who doesn't want that? Once again featuring Keith and Lance being too adorable for words. Season 5 spoilers, but, well it's been a hot minute since it debuted so I didn't feel too guilty with the sword thing in chapter 1, but I felt like I should say something just in case before the second part.**

It was around 1 in the morning that Lance approached Pidge's door. He slumped against it, knocking dejectedly with his head instead of his knuckles. The resulting thud echoed through the hall but Lance was too despondent to care.

After he heard the bed creak and muffled cursing, the door opened an inch.

"What?"

"Pidge," Lance groaned. "I need your help."

A long, suffering sigh greeted him as she swung open the door. She didn't have bed head, and a pair of headphones hung around her neck, so Lance concluded that she must not have been sleeping. It made sense because she was Pidge, and Pidge seemed to be nocturnal.

"Is this about what happened in the training room?" She asked with a flat expression.

Lance squawked before finally remembering that most of the castle inhabitants were sleeping and that he needed to shut the quiznak up. He covered his mouth with his hand and glared at Pidge.

"How do you know about that?!" He whisper-yelled furiously, whipping his head around to see if there was a camera tracking him or something.

"I've tapped into the castle systems before, do you really think I can't monitor the cameras?" She rolled her eyes.

Lance frowned but allowed Pidge to yank him inside. "That still doesn't explain _why_ you were spying."

"I was hoping Keith would beat you up." She shrugged. "I can't exactly watch tv anymore; I'm starved for entertainment."

Lance didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't.

"What do I _do,_ Pidge?" He flopped onto the floor, landing atop a bunch of random crap but he couldn't care less.

"Are you really asking a 14 year old for relationship advice?"

Lance just groaned again. " _Pidge_. You're my only _hope_."

"I thought you were super suave Lance? Since when do you need help wooing somebody?"

He grunted and mumbled something, but she couldn't catch it.

"What was that?"

" _This_ is _different_ Pidge, Keith is…"

"A desert hermit?" She quipped dryly.

"He's _special_ , _this_ is special. I can't mess this up." Lance sat up slowly, tucking his arms around his legs. He let his head fall onto his knees, the feeling of his cheek squishing against something oddly comforting. Pidge frowned softly.

"You're not going to mess it up, Lance." Pidge said, worrying over his tone. She knew that despite Lance's bravado he was self conscious and mildly depressed. She was concerned by the downtrodden and despondent attitude he was displaying. She knew that the pining between Keith and Lance was mutual but she wondered if their own insecurities would stop them from ever getting anywhere.

"I _always_ mess it up, why would this be any different?"

"You love him don't you?"

Lance opened his mouth in protest but he snapped it shut. He… He _did_ love Keith. "Yeah. Yeah, I really do." He realized.

"And _he_ cares about _you_. Keith might be a crazy antisocial mullet wearing alien ninja asshole but even he would forgive you if you actually messed something up. Besides, Keith knows literally nothing about dating. He probably won't even notice when you actually do do something stupid."

"Gee Pidge, you're really boosting my confidence."

"I'm kidding, Lance. Seriously, it's gonna work out."

Lance took a deep breath and calmed himself. "You're actually really good at this Pidgeon."

"Yeah yeah, now enough sappy shit. I'll come up with an amazing plan for you to woo your boyfriend."

"Pidge!"

"Bye, Lance!"

He finally left when she threw a shoe at him.

Pidge shook her head and winced at the almost reveal of her active surveil-k-lance. That was a secret she would take to her space grave.

"Pidge!" Keith burst into the room and Pidge promptly fell off of her bed and into a pile of dirty laundry.

"What the _quiznack_ Keith?!"

"I need your help!" To say that Keith was panicking would be a gross understatement.

"Keith, it's three a.m."

" _So_?!"

Pidge face palmed and groaned, flopping back onto the floor.

Keith worried at the door.

"Pidge?"

"Pidge?" He stepped closer to the lump on the floor and she sighed heavily.

"Will you let me go back to sleep if I help you?"

"Yes!" Keith agreed eagerly.

" _Fine_. Now what do you want?"

Keith paused. How was he supposed to broach the subject? "Uh."

"Do you mean to tell me you _woke_ me up in the _middle_ of the night and you _don't_ know what you _want_?!"

Keith winced. "Well I just- I need help with... "

Pidge narrowed her eyes and waited for him to spill the beans.

"Lance." Keith sighed. "I want to- I need to…" He didn't really know what to say. "How do I… You know…"

"Oh. My. _GOD!_ "

"You're sure this is going to work?" Keith was doubtful. He inspected the scene laid out before him and his mouth twisted with worry.

" _Trust_ me, Lance has _always_ wanted to do this." Pidge said confidently, directing the work happening around her. Almost the whole team had joined in on the scheme, Keith's mother included. She was currently trimming his hair with a knife; despite the horrid rat tail that she wore, Krolia was actually pretty good at doing hair.

Hunk entered the room with two covered dishes and set it onto the table they had decorated.

"Imitate Lady and the Tramp?" Keith asked, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, _trust_ me, Lance has been squealing over this movie his entire life." Hunk said cheerily.

Keith just watched helplessly as everyone planned his date for him. Pidge had, after admitting that she had been secretly shipping them for a while now, promised Keith that they would get Lance there and then all Keith had to do was 'bust out some slick moves.'

Keith didn't really know what that meant, but he was more planning on following Allura's advice anyways, which consisted of telling him to just be himself. She was probably the wisest out of all of them besides space dad himself. But Shiro was off somewhere being… _strange_ , and while he would normally seek out his closest friend for advice, Keith didn't want to touch that hot mess with a 20-foot pole.

Keith looked down at his hands and it was strange for him to see bare skin. Normally he was wearing a full suit or his fingerless gloves.

"Keith, you need to look up."

Keith complied.

Krolia 'hmmned' under her breath before stepping back. She brushed the hairs off his shirt lightly.

Pidge clapped her hands and her rapidly assembled workers disbanded. Keith was slightly concerned by how she managed them all so easily.

"Alright, Keith. I have created the perfect romantic atmosphere, and now it is up to you to 'kiss the boi'."

Keith blushed fire red. "Pidge," he started.

"Ah ah- hush."

He did.

"Lance will be here any minute, now _please_ do not mess up my otp."

Keith had no idea what an 'otp' was. At this point he was sure that Pidge was speaking in a different language. A computer language? Hmm. He sucked in a deep breath and exhaled. _Here goes nothing._

"Thank you, Pidge."

She smiled. "You're welcome, Mullet."

Pidge's plan was going perfectly. Lance thought he had contracted her to plan this, Keith thought the same, and now both would go into the date informed and 'confident.' In addition, the cameras and mics were hooked up. She was determined to win some type of award for first film made in space.

Keith stood as the door opened, hovering awkwardly near the table. The romantic atmosphere was uncomfortable, his palms were sweating, and he was pretty sure that he was going to die of embarrassment, but he at least had to try.

Lance walked in and froze as their eyes met. Keith felt a blush creep up his cheeks and he wished he had a sword in his hand so that he could beat somebody up. That was much more his style. That would be more comfortable.

Lance blinked. He took in the new haircut that Keith was sporting, the lack of his jacket, and the candles. He chuckled softly and fear shot through Keith. Was Lance going to make fun of him? What if Keith was just imagining the chemistry between them- or worse yet- this was a prank that everyone was playing on him because they all hated him and were glad he wasn't a paladin anymore and-

"Pidge," Lance scoffed and rolled his eyes. He looked at Keith and frowned when he read panic in the boy's eyes. He winced as he realized that Keith had not experienced the same epiphany he had a moment ago.

"Sorry, Keith, I'm not laughing at you, I just realized that we both went to Pidge for help with the same problem."

Keith blinked and then, to Lance's surprise, he laughed.

The paladin approached the small table for two and the retired paladin anxiously smiled at him. Lance smiled back fondly.

"You finally got a haircut."

"I haven't had much time you know."

"Not enough to visit _or_ get a trim?"

"I'm kind've a spy, Lance."

He laughed; Keith chuckled softly along with him but it soon became quiet. Hesitantly, Lance sat and Keith followed suit.

"Did everyone pitch in?" Lance asked, gesturing at the plates and confetti hearts sprinkled over the tablecloth.

"Pretty much. Pidge even got Matt to cut the hearts out." Keith absently flicked a few around.

Lance hummed and lifted the lids of the two platters. One held shockingly normal looking spaghetti, the other some alien looking bread. Keith blinked. How'd Hunk manage that? Although the spaghetti was kinda blue looking, it didn't taste too weird. It was a nice change from food goo. There were also milkshakes, one of the crew's favorite treats.

There were two forks, thank quiznack, sharing the plate was embarrassing enough.

Keith took comfort in the fact that Lance wasn't giving him a hard time or screaming bloody murder and running away. Lance took comfort in the fact that Keith was just as nervous as he was.

"Keith I-"

"Lance I-"

They both started to laugh and the tension eased away.


End file.
